Fall Season for Plano West Lacrosse youth teams officially kicked-off Sunday, August 28th with the seasonal meeting. Sherri Arvin, club youth program director, covered important changes to the refund policy, impact testing, volunteers, and more, Joe Overley, club secretary, reviewed communications, and Coach Klinger completed the meeting outlining the fall schedule, tournaments, and practices.

Refund Policy

In prior years the Club had a no refund policy. With the changes over the past year, many from the addition of the Jr. Wolves program, the refund policy was revisited and changed effective August 2011. Refunds for registration are now allowed less a $50 administration fee until September 1st, 2011. After September 1st no refunds for fall season registration will be approved.

Impact Testing

Last year the Club took proactive steps to address and prevent concussion injuries. The first step being Impact Testing. This is a cognitive test for student-athletes ages 12 and older to establish their baseline or what is the “norm” for their brain activity level. If an injury were to occur, doctors can use this valuable baseline information to determine if the student-athlete’s brain activity is different from the “norm” and when it healed and returned to the “norm”. This year the Club’s medical partner, Texas Health Resources, offers a take-home Impact Test for the convenience of our student-athletes and parents. Given the rapid growth and development our student-athletes’ brains, it is recommended that these test be taken every two years. The Club offers Impact Tests to our players ages 12 and older at no charge.

For complete information on the meeting, please read the Plano West Youth Kick-off for Fall 2011 presentation.

Plano West Lacrosse will host a Play Day with over 30 youth teams on Sunday, October 9th from 1:00pm – 7:00pm at the Renner Middle School Fields. Features include lacrosse gear from Team Lax, spirit wear from Plano West Lacrosse, and hamburgers, hot dogs, and more from Mooyah Burgers. A Sunday filled with lacrosse, food, and fun!

Play Day Game Schedule

Plano West high school teams have a scrimmages with Hillcrest on Sunday as well. The Junior Varsity game is at 1:00pm, and the Varsity game is at 3:00pm on the Plano West Track Field.

Fall Season for the Plano West Lacrosse high school teams officially kicked-off Saturday, August 27th with the seasonal meeting. Andy O’Reilly, club president, covered important changes to the refund policy, grades policy, impact testing, and more. Ken Douglas, club high school program director, reviewed communications, corporate sponsorships (committee headed by Donnie Jones), and more. Coach Gar completed the meeting outlining the fall schedule, spring tryouts, and the first practices.

Refund Policy

In prior years the Club had a no refund policy. With the changes over the past year, many from the addition of the Jr. Wolves program, the refund policy was revisited and changed effective August 2011. Refunds for registration are now allowed less a $50 administration fee until September 1st, 2011. After September 1st no refunds for fall season registration will be approved.

Grades Policy

In the past the Club had a no pass no play policy. Since PISD does not share grades, this required the Club to gather information on players’ grades to verify eligibility to play. We feel strongly that good academic performance is important for our student-athletes. However, given the personal information required and the increasing administrative demands on the Club, the decision was made not to gather information on players’ grades effective August 2011. Coaches and Club representatives will continue to encourage our student-athletes to perform at their highest academic potential just as we expect them to perform athletically.

Impact Testing

Last year the Club took proactive steps to address and prevent concussion injuries. The first step being Impact Testing. This is a cognitive test for student-athletes ages 12 and older to establish their baseline or what is the “norm” for their brain activity level. If an injury were to occur, doctors can use this valuable baseline information to determine if the student-athlete’s brain activity is different from the “norm” and when it healed and returned to the “norm”. This year the Club’s medical partner, Texas Health Resources, offers a take-home Impact Test for the convenience of our student-athletes and parents. Given the rapid growth and development our student-athletes’ brains, it is recommended that these test be taken every two years. The Club offers Impact Tests to our players ages 12 and older at no charge.

Spring Tryouts

Spring 2012 High School Tryouts are scheduled for December 3rd-4th (10th-11th rain days). We expect about 70 players will tryout for the Varsity and Junior Varsity teams. There will be 28 players selected for each of these two teams. This means we expect some players will not make the cut. Options for those players not selected are to play for the nearest Division 2 team (Plano East) or request a waiver to Play for Frisco or Hebron.

For complete information on the meeting, please read the Plano West Lacrosse High School Kick-Off for Fall 2011 presentation.

Spring 2012 High School Tryouts will be here before you know it. They are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, December 3rd-4th (10th-11th rain days) from 2:00-4:00pm at the Plano West Track Field. We expect about 70 players will tryout for the Varsity and Junior Varsity teams. There will be 28 players selected for each of these two teams. This means we expect some players will not make the cut. Options for those players not selected are to play for the nearest Division 2 team (Plano East) or request a waiver to Play for Frisco or Hebron.

Student-athletes like Jon Vincze know the best time to prepare for Spring Tryouts is now. He had never played lacrosse until fall 2010. Prior to that Jon played only football. Although he had never picked up a stick until his junior year, Jon didn’t let that stop him. He registered for fall season and went to work learning everything he could at practices, games, and tournaments. Jon continued his efforts outside of practice repeatedly testing and honing his skills. His hard work and dedication paid off last December when Jon was selected for the Varsity team.

All Plano West Jr. Wolves (K – 8th grade) and high school (9th – 12th grade) teams will compete in the Halloween Shootout on October 29th – 30th.The games are scheduled at two locations in McKinney, the Al Ruschhaupt Facility and the Craig Ranch Soccer Soccer Complex. This tournament is hosted by US Lacrosse North Texas. Currently there are 177 girls and boys teams registered to compete. They will play in one of two divisions:  competitive and championship.

Competitive Division is a round robin format. This division is designed for teams that are not looking to play for a championship, but more for the growth of their program and experience of the players. The divisions will be split into groups of newer teams and teams that may be more developed, but don’t have their full team. (i.e. it is your normal spring team, but you are missing several players because of fall sports and don’t feel you can compete at the top level during the fall). The idea is to avoid having teams “play down” to win a championship. Each team plays at least 3 games, and no championships nor records will be kept.

Championship Division is a round robin with a championship bracket.
This division is designed for the higher level and teams that want to play for a championship. Each team plays at least 3 games in round robin, pool play. Depending on number of registered teams, division will be two or more pools of teams for pool play. Pools will be randomly selected, but an emphasis on trying to create matchups versus teams from different areas. Winners of pool play will advance to play in championship brackets.

Plano West Varsity and Junior Varsity (JV) will compete in their first “tournament” of the fall season, the Ray Maitland Jamboree, on October 15th – 16th at Plano East Sr. High School (3000 Los Rios Blvd., Plano). The three Plano lacrosse clubs (Plano West, Plano East, and Plano Sr.) are hosting the tenth annual jamboree in honor of Ray Maitland for his significant contribution to the growth of lacrosse in Plano. Lacrosse players of all ages and their families are encourage to come and support their high school teams. Game times and fields are posted on the 2011 Schedule.

New this year is the inaugural Maitland Jamboree College Scholarship Raffle sponsored by the lacrosse programs at supporting colleges such as Army, Cornell, OU, and Texas Tech. Proceeds from the raffle go to the Maitland College Scholarship fund which benefits a deserving north Texas lacrosse athlete. Raffle tickets are available at the jamboree. The College Lacrosse programs will have some interesting items that might be big hits for birthdays or holiday wish lists, and some are unique and available only at the Jamboree.

Last year’s Plano West Lacrosse spirit wear is on clearance and will be available for purchase at the Maitland Jamboree. Food will also be available. Chick-Fil-A sandwiches will be available on Saturday and pizza on Sunday. Although t-shirts will not be sold at the event, you can order your Maitland Jamboree t-shirt online.

This is a jamboree so no trophies are presented. Teams compete for the love of the game honoring Ray Maitland’s passion for the sport. Scores are posted at the main tent only as a point of reference for the event. This year 24 teams from across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and Houston will compete in this event.

Why can’t everyone practice at Renner? Why do we have to practice at Hoblitzelle Park? Why Hoblitzelle Park when other parks are closer? Why can’t we practice earlier? Why are some teams still practicing at Renner? All these questions and more stem from our club’s need for more field space. We need room to grow. So the club is issuing the Field Space Challenge to all of our members. We need your help to address these questions and solve our shortage of field space.

Field Space Challenge:  Many of you work, volunteer, or are involved with companies and organizations around town.  We know that some sporting clubs utilize private (vs. PISD, City, and other public) property for practices and games.  Given the network that members of PWLC have, we are hopeful that one, or more, of you have visibility to a property that our club can develop and maintain for use by our teams for practices.  If you know of a person or company that would like to rent our club field space that is lighted or that we may light, we encourage you to facilitate such an arrangement and notify our new A.D., Sean McNeill.  There is still plenty of open space in west Plano. We just need your help in facilitating an arrangement to use it. know it’s not an ideal location for many of us so let me address the questions about why we are practicing there.

Now, about those questions. . . Why can’t we stay at Renner? Renner is first come first served, for the most part, and we wind up sharing it with football and soccer teams, and several of our own lacrosse teams, making it less than ideal at times. It’s hard to keep the boys’ attention with so much activity going on around them, and it’s not very safe to play lacrosse in such close quarters. Put all of those factors together with it getting dark earlier, necessitating lights (which Renner does not have) and many teams are exercising our only option – Hoblitzelle.

Why Hoblitzelle when other parks are closer? Each season, the city of Plano assigns fields to each sport and they rotate them to keep the fields in the best condition possible. That’s why, in the past, we’ve practiced at Jack Carter, Carpenter, High Point, etc. This year, we have been assigned Hoblitzelle with access on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays only.  We share that allotted time with girls lacrosse and all of the lacrosse programs in the Plano Sr. feeder program.

Why can’t we start practice earlier? It has been standard practice for our club to reserve the early practice slots, 5:30-7:00, for the younger players (K-6th), and have the older players (7th-HS) practice in the later slot, 7:00-8:30. We’d prefer everyone was home by 7:30 to have a dinner, showers, and homework, but with only 3 fields over 3 days and nearly 20 teams, we don’t have availability for everyone to practice at 5:30.

Why are some teams still practicing at Renner? Some coaches are able to adjust the start time of their practices so they finish before it gets too dark. Not all of our coaches’ jobs allow that kind of flexibility. Many of our parents’ jobs don’t either – they can’t get their son to practice at 4:30, so we begin later to accommodate the majority of coaches and parents.

On Sunday, October 2nd more than 60 teams with 1st-12th grade boys will play lacrosse wearing PINK for the 2nd Annual Pink Out Day. This event supports the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Frisco Lacrosse Association. Pink Out Day is at the Warren Sports Complex in Frisco and the game schedule is from 11:00-6:00pm.

Players, coaches, and parents are encouraged to show their support by wearing pink that day. Come and support your Plano West Jr. Wolves and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Let’s display a sea of Pink!

The Plano West Lacrosse Club sold 235 Pink West “lax’n for the cure” shirts and will be contributing over $1,000 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation! Congratulations to the 3 / 4 team in winning the most shirts sold per player contest, selling more than 2.5 shirts per player.

• 3 / 4 …          257 pts (2.57 shirts sold per player)
• 5 / 6 …          112 pts
• 7 / 8 …          97 pts
• High School   46 pts
• K/1/2 …        42 pts

(Score = # of shirts sold / # of players at group level * 100)

Official Pink Out t-shirts, shorts, and socks can also be purchased at Team LAX (9201 Warren Pkwy, Frisco), and $5.00 from each item purchased will go to Susan G. Komen.  You can purchase your Pink Out items at the Team LAX store or on the fields the day of the event.  

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month … Let’s create a sea of pink this at Pink Out Day in Frisco on October 2nd, Plano West Play Day on October 9th, as well as the weekend of October 15^th and 16^th for the Maitland Tournament. West is Lax’n for the Cure!

Last year, we raised almost $5,000 for this cause, and hope to raise even more this year.  Cash and check donations will be accepted on behalf of Susan G. Komen for you to receive a tax write off for this fiscal year.  Let’s all make a difference and “Cradle for the Cure” in 2011!

The Board of Directors is pleased to announce Sean McNeill as the new Athletic Director for PWLC. Sean grew up around the game of lacrosse, and has been very active with our sport in Plano for the past six years. He’s worked in organizations that many of us know and remember such as PSA, Plano Junior, Wranglers, and most recently as team Dad for PWLC 5/6 Royal.  Sean has two boys playing in our club at the 3/4 and 5/6 grade levels.  In the A.D. role, Sean will be helping our coaches with any team supplies that are needed and coordinating field space among the teams.  We’d like to thank Sean for stepping up to the task.